Janae Watson
Janae Watson is an inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary. She is portrayed by Vicky Jeudy. Personality Janae is quite guarded, having spent most of her years feeling like an outsider because of her race, intelligence and exceptional athletic ability. She doesn't appear to have had a great deal of experience with men. She is initially very angry and confrontational, but calms down as her friendship with Yoga Jones develops. Janae is a racist individual, with a profound ignorance of her own "culture" and slavery in general. Physical Appearance Janae is a black woman with brown eyes and black curly hair. She has muscular legs and a trim athletic build due to her training as a track star. Biography For a list of episodes featuring Janae's flashbacks, see here. Before Litchfield Growing up, Janae was extremely intelligent with her teachers at Van Buren High School, an all-black establishment, believing she would go far in life. Janae was happy with her life until the day she visited an elite prep school on a field trip and was exposed to students who had all the financial, technological and educational support they needed. She was later shocked to watch a production of Dreamgirls being rehearsed with a white girl playing Effie, complete with a fake afro. Janae began to realize just how much she was being denied as a black woman due to systemic oppression, aka racism. As a result, Janae began to rebel and fell for a criminal. Janae was also a gifted track star whose talent for running started when she was young. Unfortunately, she was ostracized by boys who often told her to "quit showing off". In her high school years, although Janae attracted much attention from college scouts and her coach, she was not noticed by boys. Her parents, her father in particular, are conservative Muslims. Being raised in a strict Muslim household, she was forbidden from dating boys, and her father initially forbade her from running track, since the track uniforms are not Islamically modest. She often looked longingly at the other girls on her team who had boyfriends. In college, she attended a party hosted by Haley Ricci. The gang leader, Three-D, urged Janae to focus on school, telling her that she had a chance to better her life. However, Janae ignored his advice when a member of the gang, Donte, expressed romantic interest in her. She became involved with his criminal activities and helped him rob a check-cashing establishment During their escape, Janae was a faster runner which caused Donte to yell for her to "stop showing off" as he fell behind. This momentarily distracted her and allowed a police officer to corner Janae. Donte ran off and let her take the fall for him. It is unknown if he was eventually arrested as well. Season One She arrives at Litchfield the same day as Piper and Dayanara. She is initially very rude and standoffish toward Piper and has problems with authority, mouthing off to Miss Claudette and the prison guards. Watson is assigned to the tool crib in the electrical shop and loses a screwdriver on her first day. After refusing to be searched by a male prison guard, Watson is sent to the Security Housing Unit (SHU) by Caputo. She blames Piper for this since Piper lost the screwdriver that started the whole confrontation. Piper is able to make it up to her later by convincing Susan Fischer to reopen the running track so that Watson can run again. After getting out of SHU, Watson continues to pick fights with other inmates. Yoga Jones attempts to calm her down but Janae mocks her pacifist nature and accuses her of killing a child. Yoga Jones slaps her and later, Janae apologizes to her and learns about Yoga Jones's past. The two strike up a friendship. Season Two Janae joins Vee's gang to get a cut of the cigarette money. She is sent down to SHU again after being caught with the cigarettes in her bunk. She is visibly affected by her second time in the SHU, and once again her relationship with Yoga Jones becomes strained when she rejects Yoga Jones' compassion. Vee coldly tells Janae that it was her own fault for getting caught. Later, she is convinced by Vee to pin Red's beating on Crazy Eyes, but has a change of heart and attempts to recant her testimony along with Black Cindy. Season Three ... Season Four ... Season Five When Taystee helps Judy King prepare a statement to tell the press about the riot and the death of Poussey Washington, Janae expressed frustration with allowing a white woman to speak about problems that she had not faced, rather than allowing them to speak for themselves. When the negotiations began, she was one of the girls standing right outside the room, cheering Taystee on. Janae, along with Black Cindy, Taystee, and Alison, try to wake Suzanne before the riot officers come in. Unable to wake her, Cindy and and Taystee put her in a wheelchair and take her to hid. She was one of the few that believed Taystee when she told them Figueroa would come back, and waiting with Alison by the door for her. Because they were near the door, they were among the first to be captured by riot officers. Everyone screamed and ran when they busted it down, but Janae was quickly caught and tased. Afterwards all the inmates were brought onto the front lawn while two prison buses pulled up. Janae expressed concern that Cindy, Taystee, and Suzanne were never brought outside. Relationships Romantic * Donte (likely ex after Janae's incarceration) Friends *Yoga Jones *Cindy Hayes *Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson *Poussey Washington *Suzanne Warren *Brook Soso *Alison Abdullah Enemies * Baxter Bayley * Yvonne "Vee" Parker * Kasey Sankey * Helen Van Maele * Brandy Epps * Jennifer Digori * Joel Luschek * Claudette Pelage Memorable Quotes Gallery Season 1 Watson1.png JanaeEp1A.png Watson2.png PiperJanaeDayaEp1.png Watson4.png JanaePiperEp1.png DayaJanaePiperEp1.png JanaeEp1B.png Gifs watson1.gif watson2.gif watson3.gif watson4.gif watson5.gif watson6.gif watson7.gif watson8.gif watson9.gif Navigation Watson, Janae Watson, Janae Watson, Janae Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Electrical Workers Category:SHU Inmates Category:Whispers Employee Category:Season 4 Characters Category:Janitors Category:Builder Category:Season 5 Characters